ZAMBOANGA CITY – Two farmers were killed and another seriously injured after being hit by a lightning bolt during a heavy rain in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga Sibugay, police said Friday.
Police said the trio was working at a farm when a lightning bolt struck them early Thursday evening in Bulawan village in Payao town and instantly killed Ranilo Navarro Sr. and Michael Castillo.
Their companion Eric dela Cruz was severely injured and brought to Lancheta Hospital in nearby town of Imelda. Police said the victims were hit shortly after seeking shelter in the middle of the rice field.
In May last year, a farmer was also killed during a lightning storm in Alamada town in North Cotabato province in southern Philippines. The 30-year old Rolando Jenoble was just standing by the window when a lightning bolt struck the cell phone he was holding.
In November 2014, a woman, Eva Emit, was killed by a lightning strike inside her house in Sergio Osmeña town in Zamboanga del Norte province. The woman’s body was discovered by her son-in-law outside the kitchen that had been also ripped apart by the lightning strike which occurred in the village of Bagong Baguio.
In May of the same year, a teenager Ronald Igod was killed by a lightning strike that also injured his three-year old cousin Jelemae Igod in the village of Soguilon in Zamboanga del Norte’s Siayan town. The two were listening to a radio program inside their house when lightning struck them.
In 2013, at least 5 people were reported killed by lightning in separate areas in Zamboanga Peninsula. A 38-year old woman, Elsa Dumolon, was instantly killed from a lighting strike that went through her bedroom’s window in the village of Lumaping in Jose Dalman town also in Zamboanga del Norte. The woman was just sitting on her bed when the lightning hit her.
A two-year old boy, Regie Francisco, was killed and his mother, Angelyn, 22, also severely burned in a lightning strike in the village of Lanzones in Zamboanga City. And a lightning strike in Zamboanga del Sur’s Tungawan town also killed an army sentinel, Pfc. Jaymar Tumarong, while another soldier, Pfc. Jemar Destrajo, was injured. The two soldiers, members of the 6th Special Forces Battalion, were guarding their post when lightning hit them.
There was no immediate statistics as to the number of documented casualties or injuries from lightning strikes in the Philippines, but those struck by lightning and survived suffered from a variety of long-term symptoms, including memory loss, chronic pain, numbness, dizziness, muscle spasms and depression, among others. (Mindanao Examiner)
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